Amph "You think you're the only superhero in the world?" - The Marvel Cinematic Universe

why not, it's worked so far.

 

a perfect 10,000th post i must say.

 

Continuing on the road to Infinity War, next up, Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Release date: April 4, 2014 and Worldwide Box Office: $714,264,267



HAIL HYDRA!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is my favorite MCU film and I feel it offers the best villain.

So, when Joe and Anthony Russo were announced as directors for the sequel film to Captain America: The First Avengers, I didn't think much of it. I knew they had directed the Community episode, "A Fistful of Paintballs," which is on the best episodes as the action sequences were well choreographed and directed, but taking on Captain America is a whole other ball of paint.

Going into The Winter Soldier, I was quite skeptical with the Russo Brothers not having much of resume and the early release date of April 4 instead of a prime blockbuster release date was somewhat a red flag. Moreover, I thought Captain America: The First Avenger was just an okay film as Steve Rogers wasn't a complex character and it was the standard super hero origin flick. Additionally, I wasn't thrilled with Iron Man 3 and somewhat underwhelmed with Thor: The Dark World. So, I just expected the usual basic villain and a sort of paint by numbers story. Once the film was over, I was very pleasantly surprised and overwhelmed with the film.

First of all, unlike Iron Man 3 or Thor: The Dark World, where those films start off with long winded exposition and explosions to set up the plot and whatnot, The Winter Soldier starts off with the soft, cute and warm opening of "on your left."



I thought this was a great way to develop/enhance the character of Steve Rogers because even though he was given the super soldier serum, he still takes a morning run and it demonstrates his speed in the comparison to an average jogger. It's a subtle way of showing Steve's super power. "On your left' also provided the "meet cute" between Steve and Sam, and how the both share some post combat syndrome/issues as they discuss the problems sleeping in a comfortable bed; "it's like lying on a marshmallow, like your going to sink to the floor." I felt it was a realistic and a sincere way combat vets would meet and discuss their experiences, as well as trying to get back to normal. This scene also reminds the audience that Steve is a soldier and man out of time as he talks about how he doesn't have to boil everything, there's no polio and the internet is so helpful. And this scene nearly comes to the close with Steve's list (which was modified to fit the foreign markets):



About ten minutes into the film, there's no exposition to the plot or any explosions; just wonderful character developments, insights and dialogue.

Now, the film starts moving forward with the plot with Steve's first mission to free some hostages from some terrorists in international waters, and this is where the film takes the character of Captain America to the next level; however, that's where the first nickpick of me occurs, as Steve falls into the ocean he climbed onto the ship with a perfectly dry and pressed uniform. Perhaps Cap's uniform has some Back to the Future 2 tech in it (Black Panther reference) where the clothes just dry off in a few seconds. Anyway, there this beautiful tracking shot of Cap running from end of the boat to the other, scored by his brilliantly composed theme song for the film. This is where we see the Russo Brothers elevate Captain America's fighting style and skills (First Avengers Cap was so 1942), as it's very modern, complex and fast. The action sequences utilizes every camera angle and style very well, as there's the trendy handheld/shaky cam, the tight close up and sweeping overhead shots, but most importantly the Russos employ the wideshots to allow the viewer to maintain the sense of space and location, as well as feast their eyes on the beautifully choreographed hand-to-hand combat. Cap not only uses the standard punches, but the no so standard cartwheel flying kick. So many other films, uses numerous quick cuts to provide the fist fighting, like Iron Fist (56 cuts in 35 seconds), but The Winter Soldier gives the audience a great view and longer take of the fight. BTW, Cap is fighting UFC French Canadian, George saint Pierre, who's playing the French villain Georges "The Leaper" Batroc. Cap takes down "The Leaper" with his own ironic leaping kick. Little touches like this that make "The Winter Soldier" so great.



There are some many things this film does really well. Like pairing up Steve and Natasha, as he's the all American boy scout and she's the former Russian spy with a lot of red on her ledger. Moreover, the film doesn't try and make their relationship romantic, but more of the "work wife" type of relationship. It allows their characters to playoff each other and have that running joke of Nat trying to encourage Steve to date; really humanizing Steve and making him endearing. There's also the moments when they're on the run and the kiss on the escalator (making the "hunters" uncomfortable with PDA) and later on in the truck, Nat asks Steve if that's the first time he's been kissed in 90 years and Nat says he needs to practice. Cute stuff that builds the characters and their relationship.



I like the part where Steve visits the Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian. It tugs at your heart that he still keeps the locket of Peggy and becomes a tear jerker when he visits her and she has Alzheimer.

Anyway, the ship mission allowed the plot to start rolling and get Nick Fury and SHIELD more involved in the film as sets up the espionage/covert ops elements of the film. Cap meets with Fury after the mission for a briefing of sorts and where we get some character development as Cap confronts Fury on Black Widow's secret mission and endangering lives. And a bit later, we get this elevator scene where Nick talks about his grandfather and having a gun in a lunch bag (nice metaphor and foreshadowing). At the end of the elevator ride, Nick reveals "Project Insight" and we see that three next generation helicarriers are being build for the purpose of "preemptive anti-terrorist strike/"neutralize a lot of threats before they can happen." Which Steve replies, "by holding to a gun to everyone's head on earth and calling it protection." This is the moment where the film notes Steve's stands against the ideology of "preemptive strikes" and further states...



"Project Insight" is the real villain of the film, as it's a symbolic reflection of modern American government's attitude on national security and why I say it's the best "villain" the MCU has to offer. This realistic portrayal of the modern American government can be summed up in two words:

Disposition Matrix

The Disposition Matrix, informally known as "Obama's kill list," is a database of information for tracking, capturing, rendering, or killing suspected enemies of the United States. Developed by the Obama administration beginning in 2010, the "Disposition Matrix" goes beyond existing kill lists and is intended to become a permanent fixture of U.S. policy. The process determining criteria for killing is not public and was heavily shaped by National Counterterrorism Director and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John O. Brennan.
​

"Project Insight" is an algorithm to root out individuals that would oppose or threaten HYDRA's goals. The algorithm used every variable of a person's life such as bank records, voting patterns, and even standardized testing scores. Of course, on that list were Bruce Banner, Dr. Stephen Strange and others. Very much the essence of the "Disposition Matrix;" collecting data and violating civil liberties and creating targeting profiles.

Now, Loki is very charismatic and has alot of depth, but he's pretty much the standard bad guy and not reflective of real world issues. "Project Insight" and Hydra are symbolic of the government's policies, drone strikes and wetwork operations. Now, "Project Insight" has a front man and a figure head in "The Winter Soldier" and "Alexander Pierce" respectively.

And speaking of Hydra's frontman, "The Winter Soldier" he makes an excellent debut to close off a spectacular action sequence where Nick is ambushed by Hydra agents. The scene builds slowly buildings the tension, first with Nick being eyed by the local authority (shining the light on "being pulled over while driving Black), then he's surrounded by a SWAT team and builds to the battering ram and rocket launcher and then into the car chase using various camera angles and styles to enhance the thrills and drama. It ends with the cool appearance...



There's another get action sequence where Cap rides his motorcycle and takes on a Quinnjet. Yet, another scene where they elevate Cap as a character in terms of being a super soldier and use of his shield.




The Winter Soldier serving as the frontman for Hydra is akin to Darth Vader and the Terminator. Much like Darth Vader, there's more than meets the eye and like the Terminator, he's program to kill and won't stop until the target is killed. The Winter Soldier is also scored with his own theme music, which sounds like theme to a serial killer; menacing and fearsome. Moreover, "The Winter Soldier" much like the before mentioned characters are built up in dialogue a bit as there a scene where Nat says "no more bikinis" as she crossed paths with him before and lost.

One of the best thing about "The Winter Soldier" is that he actually causes some of the heroes to have a fearful look on their faces. This was demonstrated perfectly in the scene was Agent Sitwell is killed to prevent him from talking in the highway battle, which leads to Black Widow vs Winter Soldier. The sound mixing in these scenes are heart pounding as it was goes quiet in parts, hit the Winter Solider theme and the sound effects of bullets flying. It's an incredibly well directer scene. Off the top of my head, it's the only sincere feeling scene was the heroes genuinely look scared in a MCU film.



To shorten things up, (even though I have a tons more to write), the film ends with not the main hero punching his foe to submission, but rather, submitting himself to the will of his opponent, as Cap lowers his fists and drops his shield, much like Luke drops his lightsaber in his final duel with Darth Vader. Cap gets pummeled by Bucky and still doesn't fight back. They fall into the Potomac River. Steve later wakes to tunes of Marvin Gaye and says "on your left" and sure enough, Cap is on the left of Sam.

Of course, Nat becomes like an Edward Snowden type of figure and releases all the secret government/Hydra files on the net.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier, elevates the character of Captain America, the previous film and organically plants seeds for the follow up film, Civil War. Moreover, "The Winter Soldier" is gritty and grounded in realism (a phrase recently thought to be a four letter word when describing comic book films) as it emblematic of modern issues of governmental policies to terrorism; drone strikes; espionage, data collecting and trustworthy data.


The Russo Brother carefully crafted the film and used the headlines at the time to write the script.

The Russo Brothers On Why THE WINTER SOLDIER Is THREE DAYS OF CAPTAIN AMERICA

The Russo Brother made is an emphasis that the film was realistic and made sure Steve didn't get loss in the story telling.

Our Interview With The Directors Of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, Anthony & Joe Russo

The Russo Brothers took a Christopher Nolan/Dark Knight approach to the Captain America: The Winter Soldier and it shows. It's well crafted film 70's spy thriller wrapped in a comic book genre film. Moreover, it's the best modern espionage/covert ops blockbuster film; better than Bond, Bourne or Mission Impossible in the terms of story telling; symbolic representation, action sequence, musical score and directing.

The film is a 10 out of 10.

 

Feb 2022 is probably the Black Panther sequel, although that is a bit far out, you'd figure they'd want it out in 2 years at least.

 

I wonder who the villain will be in BP2, since they used most of his most prominent villains up already.

 

Namor.

 

I’m not a fan of AoU, but I absolutely love Hulk/Hulkbuster.

 

Finished The Punisher, it was really great, and also that means all caught up on Live Action MCU (even Inhumans!) so for 4 more days before Jessica Jones Season 2 hits, I get the gold Marvel zombie star!

 

Building off of Merk's post, I would say that my top 10 MCU set pieces would be:

(I limited myself to only one entry per film/show, because otherwise over half this list would be stuff by the Russos)

1. Elevator Brawl - The Winter Soldier
2. Matt Goes Oh Dae-su - Daredevil
3. Tarmac Scuffle - Civil War
4. The "Immigrant Song" Bifrost Mele- Ragnarok
5. Yondu taking out the mutineers - Guardians of the Galaxy 2
6. Battle of New York - Avengers
7. T'challa vs Killmonger, Round One - Black Panther
8. It's Portals All the Way Down - The Dark World
9. One Boot, One Glove - Iron Man 3
10. Scott Meets an Avenger - Ant-Man

*Ron Howard Voice*: Casting Robert Redford and including a shot with the Watergate Hotel in the background does not a 70's spy thriller make.

 

There’s a lot of amazing action sequences in the MCU, but I think my favourite is Thor vs. Surtur and his army from the start of Ragnarok. The insane action with Led Zeppelin playing... Oh my goodness.

The Winter Soldier is a masterpiece. And it has the best fight choreography. I’ll be watching it over the next few days and it’s easily gonna take the lead.

 

I wanted to comment on this scene in my review above but I was running very long as it was, so I'm glad this is considered the best or one of the best scenes in the MCU. Like the film, this scene starts off slow and unassuming. Cap is contemplating his meeting with Pierce and whether he's trust worthy or not, and as the elevator descends the tension builds up as field agents enter the elevator and it goes from Cap going, "What's up?" to "It's getting crowded in here" to "I have a bad feeling about this." The Russo Brothers do a wonderful job in putting the audience in Cap's shoes as the audience assesses the situation as Cap does, and then Cap spots a tear drop of sweat rolling down the face of that one agent (which reminded me of that scene in Total Recall). And what makes this scene all the more intense and badass is that Cap fights everyone with like one hand tied behind his back for a good amount of the scene.

This scene reminded of what Green Lantern's action was suppose to be like as quoted by Ryan Reynolds, "Martin Campbell pushes you hard. He described his action as a knife fight in a phone booth (quick and fast and dirty and big grand sweeping movements)."

Yeah, I agree with that assessment. The score is probably not something that makes for good listening apart from the film. However, I feel it wonderfully enhances the scenes it the rhythmic beats as it builds tension, set the mood and understated enough for the sound effects to also mark their marks on the scene.

Yup. That's no one has said casting Redford or a shot with the Watergate Hotel in the background makes this film feel like a 70's spy thriller. Most people say that they could tell movies like The French Connection, Three Days of the Condor, All the President's Men and The Parallax View had an influence on the Winter Soldier.

Speaking of Redford, we may see a younger version of his character in the upcoming Captain Marvel flick as it has been reported that...

Spoiler

Nick Fury with two good eyes will be in the film. And IIRC, in The Winter Soldier, it was alluded to that Fury lost an eye in a mission involving Piecre.

 

@Sith_Sensei__Prime another great post on CATWS. I see I screwed up my response to your initial post (deleting one too many quotes). I'll probably pass on Captain Marvel, but that's interesting a younger Fury would show up with both eyes. I thought the mission in that embassy took place in the early 90s though? Is CM set in the early 90s? Again, I had no idea that Green Lantern's action was supposed to be as good as that elevator.

The fight choreography in the Cap movies are my faves in the MCU (certainly there's some real world martial arts in WS (Krav Maga) along with Pakour and then whatever George St. Pierre does (okay, I do not watch MMA.) I love the superhero punches and things as much as the next fan, but I appreciate moments like the elevator and causeway fight scenes because you get to see some very dangerous and grounded melees going on in addition to all the great super soldier enhanced fighting.

What's next on your revisit list?

 

I was on the edge of my seat for this, as it was the middle of the movie and I just wasn't sure if they were gonna have Cap win this confrontation or not. And if there is one lil thing I loved it's 2:10 to 2:14.

 

Yes, it was announced last year during San Diego Comic-Con, that Captain Marvel will take place in the 1990's. I posted the concept art from the SDCC presentation on this thread back around July.

‘Captain Marvel’ Will Be Set in the ’90s With Skrulls as Villains

To be fair to Green Lantern, the scene where Abin Sur fights Parallax as kind like the a knife fight in a phone booth. Too bad, that was the only thing that was in the film.

I'll be revisiting the MCU films in the order they were released, so next up will be the Guardians of the Galaxy, followed by Avengers: Age of Ultron and so on.

 

Yes! To answer @Jedi Merkurian topic of favorite MCU fight scenes, this is my favorite because of so many things. The scene is shot (using different camera angles and techniques); the performances of the actors (ScarJo really sells Black Widow's fear and Stan sells TWS as being the Terminator/Darth Vader); and as mentioned previously, the score provides the sounds and feels of active heart beating and sound effects just enhances the overall tension and drama. It's perfectly done.

 

My favorite fight scene in the MCU too. Stan mentioned he practiced the knife moves at home too while training. It is that fight scene that makes me think of Ed Brubaker’s dialogue for Nick Fury Sr. which describes the WS as a Cold War myth.

Thanks for the notes on what is next.

 

I always wonder how many bones Cap broke on that ship guard, after 15-20 yards of running build up....